


Life is So Much Brighter (With You)

by marblestuff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, general cheesiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 16:15:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13884498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marblestuff/pseuds/marblestuff
Summary: Struggling college student Lance Mcclain, living in a world where you see in black and white until you meet your soulmate, gets a sudden change in his life after (literally) running into other struggling college student Keith Kogane.





	Life is So Much Brighter (With You)

Lance buried his face into his bed.

“Come on, buddy! Please? You can’t keep yourself in this room for the rest of the school year. Just come with me to the coffee shop this one time.” his roommate, Hunk, pleaded.

Lance and Hunk were freshmen in college. To their delight, they had gotten placed in a room together. They attended high school together, so Lance had always talked about how lucky they are, and how now they can go to parties and other things.   
Unfortunately, the plans fell apart when the first year began to hit Lance hard. It made it almost impossible for Hunk to get him out of the dorm room. 

“But I haven’t slept in days.” Lance sat up and scanned the black and white dorm room. It was a hot mess from his crazy study sessions and his tendency to stress eat everything.

Lance had never seen anything in color in his life. His childhood bedroom had been shades of black, white, and grey, and so had his family and all his friends. He couldn’t wait for the day where he was about to see everything in full color - he hoped it was as beautiful as everyone had described to him.

See, Lance lived in a world where no one saw color until they met their soulmate. At his age, most people still saw in strictly black and white. Hunk still didn't see color, and neither did many of his other friends. To many people, it defeated the point of dating. Why bother going out with randoms when there’s someone out there, made especially for you, just waiting for you to come by and love them?

Lance didn’t care about the soulmate thing. His soulmate could be on the other side of the world for all he knows. Why would he waste his time waiting for one person when he could go out and have fun with a bunch of others? So, that’s just what he did. He hit on girls and boys alike, attempting to win their hearts-usually, to no avail. 

Lance wasn’t exactly the coolest, but he wasn’t the most uncool either. He had a decent amount of friends, almost everyone knew him due to his outgoing and fairly loud nature, and he wasn’t exactly hated by anyone in particular. He played soccer for the school team which definitely helped his reputation, and he had been described as “nothing short of really good” at the sport by fellow teammates and coaches. 

His friend Hunk, on the other hand, was almost his polar opposite. Quiet and reserved, Hunk had few friends like Lance. He was more into tech and programming than sports. Many people were surprised to learn that Hunk and Lance were even friends, but they considered themself the dynamic duo. 

Hunk sighed, unplugging his laptop and sliding it into his backpack. “I’m going there to study. It’s a quiet place, and besides, you can’t deny that coffee will help with your whole ‘not sleeping’ issue.” 

The taller boy rolled his eyes at Hunk, gave him a quick nod to indicate that he would indeed tag along, and stood up from the bed. He pushed open the bathroom door and stepped in front of the mirror. He looked himself up and down. The real reason he preferred not to leave the dorm was because of the state of his looks. His hair, a disheveled mess, looked like a birds nest. The bags under his eyes showed the little sleep he’d gotten over the past few days. He cringed at his own appearance. His hair was going to take forever to fix, and the bags under his eyes probably wouldn't go away until spring break.

Lance took a brush out of one of his drawers and began to run it through his hair. He wouldn’t have time to groom his hair to perfection, but the rest of him wasn’t exactly up to par either, so he didn’t really mind. Dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, the boy took one last look in the mirror and set the brush on the counter, turning off the lights and shutting the door. He pulled on the first pair of shoes he could find, a black pair of converse, and swung his backpack over his shoulder. Making sure to grab his dorm key on the way out, he followed Hunk out the door to begin their journey.

It was a warm day for mid January, which was quite unusual, but welcomed nonetheless. The coffee shop was only a short distance away from the college, so Hunk and Lance decided to take advantage of the abnormally nice weather and just walk. The sidewalks and grass were littered with slush, which made Lance internally curse himself for not wearing boots. 

The sky was dark and cloudy, and the atmosphere outside was kind of depressing. Lance almost couldn’t wait to arrive at the coffee shop - the bleak world around him was bringing his mood down a little bit. The boy continued to walk alongside his friend. The both of them knew their way to the coffee shop by heart due to many late night trips to aid caffeine-fueled study sessions. 

Upon arriving at the coffee shop, Hunk pushed the door open,causing a bell to ring softly and alert the workers of new customers. 

The coffee shop was fairly small, decorated in browns and pastel blues. It smelled lightly of coffee and freshly baked muffins, which gave the place such a warm feeling that you couldn’t help but immediately become more relaxed upon entering. 

Since the shop was so close to the campus, students were scattered along its tables, many with laptops or books out, scribbling notes or typing quickly. The two boys found an empty table, put their belongings on top of it, and entered the line. 

The barista was a young woman with long curly hair Lance recognized as Allura. Despite the fact that the girls’ name was printed across the name tag on her chest in neat handwriting, he knew her due to the fact that they attended the same school and had a few classes with her. The boy had tried his hand at winning her affection several times, but it never worked. 

After the person in front of him had gotten their order, Lance strolled up to the counter to place his.

“A medium hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin please.” he said.

“And a name for that?” the girl at the counter said.

“Lance.” he responded. He chose not to engage in conversation, stepping to the side to wait for his order to be completed. Both of them were busy, and besides, if she had wanted to say something, she would have. 

When his name was called, Lance grabbed his order and sat back at him and Hunk’s table. Pulling out his laptop, he opened his English essay he had been dreading for awhile. He was exactly the type of person to procrastinate as long as possible on things he didn’t feel like doing. Sipping at his hot chocolate, he began to type. The topic he was writing about was probably the most boring topic ever, and he still managed to find a way to become distracted even with the calming environment of the coffee shop.

After working quietly on various online worksheets and papers for awhile, Lance peered over his laptop screen to look at Hunk still working hard. The brightness of the laptop was beginning to give him a headache, so he decided that getting up to throw out his now cold hot chocolate and the remains of his muffin would be a good break from his studies. 

Lance stands up, finds the nearest trash can and dumps his trash into it, and begins to walk back to his seat-but runs into someone or something instead.

...And that someone or something proceeded to spill hot coffee on him.

The boy didn’t even get a chance to look at the perpetrator before his eyes were squeezed shut in pain, but the voice spewing out the words ”I’m so sorry.” once every second led him to believe that the coffee that was now on his shirt belonged to a boy about his age. 

“Shit! Fuck! I’m sorry, oh my god. Are you okay?”

The voice was clear but slightly panicked at the same time. Lance didn’t recognize it to be any of his classmates, but it could've been someone he only knew by face. 

As the initial burn of the hot coffee faded out, Lance rubbed his eyes, peering down at the shorter boy in front of him. The two locked eyes for a split second, and Lance looked the boy up and down. The boy was pale with black hair and...eyes that were anything but the shades of black and white he’d previously seen. 

“Oh my god.” Lance gasped. He could see everything in full color.


End file.
